Partner José Alvarez
James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician,[1][2][3] author and scientific skeptic[4][5][6] who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims.[7] He was the co-founder of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), and founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF). Randi began his career as a magician under the stage name The Amazing Randi and later chose to devote most of his time to investigating paranormal, occult, and supernatural claims, which he collectively called "woo-woo".[8] Randi retired from practicing magic at age 60, and from his foundation at 87.
Although often referred to as a "debunker", Randi said he disliked the term's connotations and preferred to describe himself as an "investigator".[9][10] He wrote about paranormal phenomena, skepticism, and the history of magic. He was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, famously exposing fraudulent faith healer Peter Popoff, and was occasionally featured on the television program Penn & Teller: Bullshit!
Before Randi's retirement, JREF sponsored the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge, which offered a prize of one million US dollars to eligible applicants who could demonstrate evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event under test conditions agreed to by both parties.[11] In 2015, the James Randi Educational Foundation said they will no longer accept applications directly from people claiming to have a paranormal power, but will offer the challenge to anyone who has passed a preliminary test that meets with their approval.[12]
Randi married Venezuelan artist José Alvarez (born Deyvi Orangel Peña
Arteaga) on July 2, 2013 in Washington. Randi, who had recently moved to
Florida, met Alvarez in 1986, in a Fort Lauderdale public library. Arteaga had
left his native country for fear of his life, as he was homosexual. The
pseudonym Arteaga had taken, Jose Alvarez, was an actual person in the United
States. The identity confusion caused the real Alvarez some legal and
financial difficulties. Arteaga was arrested for identity theft and faced
deportation.
In 2014, Part2Filmworks released An Honest Liar, a feature film documentary, written by Tyler Measom and Greg O'Toole, and directed and produced by Measom and Justin Weinstein.[98] The film, which was funded through Kickstarter,[99] focuses on Randi's life, his investigations, and his relationship with longtime partner José Alvarez, to whom he was married in 2013.[98] The film was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival,[100] at Toronto's Hot Docs film festival,[101] and at the June 2014 AFI Docs Festival in Silver Spring, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., where it won the Audience Award for Best Feature. It also received positive reviews from critics.[102][103] The film was featured on the PBS Independent Lens series, shown in the U.S. and Canada, on March 28, 2016.[104]
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